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Residents in the San Fernando Valley are fed up with the smell of rotting garbage wafting from the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Sylmar.

Six people who live within three miles of the landfill have filed a class-action lawsuit against its operator, claiming it has failed to maintain the site.

Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said over the past couple of years residents have called in and e-mailed about 3,000 complaints regarding the landfill’s foul odors.

“While there are still odors present and residents are still calling to complain about the odors, there is progress that’s being made to install equipment and to modify their operation to collect more of the landfill gas," Atwood said.

Atwood said gas produced by decomposing trash hadn’t been properly disposed of in the past, bu, the Sunshine Canyon Landfill’s operator has already collected about 67 percent more of the gas than it did last year. The Air Quality Management District set conditions and deadlines two years ago ordering the operator to remedy the landfill’s stench problem by next summer.

The operator of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill is Republic Services based in Phoenix. When asked for a response to the Valley residents' lawsuit, spokeswoman Peg Malloy said the company has a policy not to comment on pending lawsuits.